


as sparks fly

by koffeebean



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Don't copy to other sites, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Firebending & Firebenders, Friendship, Gen, I spent way too long writing this, Metalbending & Metalbenders, Morse Code, OC Pirates - Freeform, Possible Character Death, This is emo-tional guys, Whump, Zuko whump, chi block, chi blocking bracelets, hurt toph, hurt zuko, i actually planned this whole story out, like almost directly after, messed up timelines, not a very good ending, sequel in the works, slightly dark themes, the others are mentioned - Freeform, these pirates are bad, this takes place after book three's southern raiders episode, up to the reader - Freeform, zuko & toph friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 17:50:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19256161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koffeebean/pseuds/koffeebean
Summary: "Benders deprived of their bending for too long go psychologically insane.” He refrained from rolling his eyes. He knew this already - he just didn't care. “Please Nephew, you have to bend to get better, improve and heal.""I'm never bending fire again. I choose not to, and there's no other reason than that you can prove, old man."How little he knew back then just how much he would be aching to bend now. Chi blocking bracelets they were called...Toph finally got her life changing field trip with Zuko, but it wasn't supposed to be like this. Never like this.





	as sparks fly

**Author's Note:**

> Okay yay I finally wrote something for atla!! Of course, it is slightly dark. Most of my writing is... enjoy!!

Zuko awoke to the sensation of swaying. The ground he lay on felt uneasy, and his head spun. Pain thumped through his head, keeping in perfect sync with his pulse, as if it was his very own blood that was causing his brain to pound against his skull mercilessly, as if wanting to escape his own body.

  


Forcing open his eyes, the world was empty, and for a terrifying moment he thought that he had gone blind, like Toph, before his vision swirled in dank colours of browns and dingy yellows. It assaulted his vision, and sent stabbing needles to the nerves behind his eyes.

  


He groaned painfully and closed his eyes against the onslaught of pain that came with seeing. Ugh, he felt like he was going to get sick.

  


He breathed heavily through his nose until he drifted within his own muddled thoughts.

  


Last thing he remembered was getting back from his trip with Katara, and landing on the island where they had met with Aang. Sokka, Toph and Suki were there too, a while inwards on the island where they had set up camp.

  


Digging further for an explanation, any explanation, as to why he felt so sick and in pain. Had he overdone his firebending training? Maybe he went on a hunting trip with Sokka and fell in the river or something.

  


Zuko clenched his teeth as another bout of pain washed over him, and he breathed as evenly as he could until it passed.

  


Yeah, falling in a river wouldn't have hurt him this much. Especially since Lu Ten had taught him to swim all those years ago.

  


Then what… 

  


Toph.

  


A pain laced through his skull.

  


He and Toph had gone for a walk while the others were getting ready to sleep. Well, more like  _ he _ went for a walk and Toph had followed him. 

  


In the moment he thought it was nice, them walking together. This was the girl who had decided to give him a chance, right from the beginning. She didn't judge him for being a firebender, or a terrible person. Hell, she even believed in him after he accidentally burned her feet, rendering her completely blind.

  


It was nice. She just talked to him, no undercurrents of wanting something from him, or manipulating him as Azula would have.

  


They just… walked and talked.

  


Toph didn't push him to open up and talk about how he had the craziest family in history, or how he got the scar - not that she could even see it - and since it was night and the sun was down he wasn't feeling very energetic or talkative. But she had filled the silence more than enough. No awkward silences.

  


Well, the silence was comfortable. They both had grown up with little to no normal interactions with other children to know that silence was apparently awkward to some. To them, it was just a normal comfort they both basked in happily.

  


Toph was a friend with no bad first impressions… besides the foot burning part. All things considering with the rest of their little gang, it wasn't all that bad of an introduction. If that said something about how bad his first impressions went…

  


Zuko groaned as the feeling of being sick washed over him again, wanting him to curl into a ball and wait out the headaches.

  


He welcomed the numbing darkness that overtook him with open arms.

  


| | |

  
  


The ground swayed, and Zuko felt the wood beneath him before anything else. 

  


The swaying continued, and the ground rocked as though he was back on his ship. His Uncle by his side and asking him whether or not he wanted tea, or asked him to join in on music night when all Zuko wanted was for the music to lull him to sleep. Those were the only nights he could sleep undisturbed without dreams. The sways were reminding him of the times Uncle smiled at him proudly when he beat his crew at Pai Sho, and Captain Jee would demand a rematch while the cook laughed in disbelief. He liked playing Pai Sho, just not so much with Uncle - then he always lost…

  


He opened his eyes, bracing against the swirling colours he remembered from last time. The browns and dull yellows swirled once more, but he gritted his teeth and rode it out. The swirls lessened, and eventually merged to form coherent objects.

  


A wooden beam stood above him in his field of vision, and he stared at it.

  


His ship wasn't wooden. It was made out of Fire Nation metal, not something so flammable as  _ wood. _

  


How?

  


Zuko closed his eyes tight, trying to force anything to come back to him.

  


Right - he was walking with Toph.

  
  
  


Toph followed closely behind, allowing him time to admire the trees that grew along the coast. He was finally back with the Fire Nation. Or at least they were close. These trees were so Fire Nation, and speckled the royal garden of the palace.

  


His mother found him climbing one once, and she was so prepared to demand him to get down until she saw that he was trying to reach an injured sparrowkeet.

  


Toph yawned loudly. “So were you actually going to collect firewood or not?”

  


She punched his arm slightly, hand lingering. Agni her hands felt cold.

  


“Do you want to-” he trailed off, waiting for her to fill in the blank.

  


Toph’s raised eyebrow could be seen, even in the dark. “To…?”

  


“Here.” He gently grabbed her hand while refraining from throwing up his eyes, and placing it in the crook of his elbow.

  


“Taking pity on my poor blind soul.” 

  


Zuko shook his head to himself, all the while knowing that Toph could probably sense it… but just in case she couldn't - “For the warmth.”

  


“What?!” she squaked, and Zuko found it amusing to see the strong, earthbender extraordinaire become flustered. “No, I'm not cold! It's just hard to see at night.”

  


“Toph…”

  


A sigh. “Damn, that would work on Sokka or Aang.”

  


He almost snorted. Yeah, the others pretty much forgot that she was blind fairly often.

  


“I just want you close. I can't see in the dark, unlike you,” he offered, having a boost in spirit at Toph’s small, badly hidden smile.

  


In all honesty he didn't mind the closeness, no matter how touch starved the both of them were - Being blind and fragile left her parents not wanting to  _ break her _ , and he hadn't felt much love since his mom left, never truly letting Uncle hug him without any prompt from nightmare or injury until Ba Sing Se. No other reason than to embrace and show affection. No matter how badly he wanted some contact on his ship, he kept feeling as though he was a disappointment, and that he didn't deserve it. 

  


Anyways, if she was cold and he was warm, he wouldn't mind sharing his heat. Toph just wanted to seem tough. He understood wanting to seem independent. Strong in the face of his weakness.

  


He would take the blame for wanting her close.

  


The whole scene reminded him of a time when he was little.

  


Azula had dragged him down to the beach one night on Ember Island. It was freezing cold, and the wet sand stuck to their bare feet, but Azula just wanted to see the glowing shrimpfish that the island was partly famous for.

  


For Azula’s tiny mind, the eerie blue glow under the moon-reflected water was too enticing not to touch, so she leaned over the edge of the wooden beam and, before Zuko could stop her, fell in.

  


Zuko shook his head at the memory.

  


Azula was so cold, and Zuko was so worried. Her inner fire was so weak, so he just… held her. Warming her with his own inner flames. She called him a dum-dum for caring so much, but there was a small smile on her face as she was carried back to the house.

  


It was one of the very few memories he had that were…normal. Happy.

  


Toph had knocked him out of his train of thinking by dragging him towards the pier, towards the small wooden port that sat at the edge of the island.

  


Why though?

  


Toph hated water, and she hated wood.

  


She was blind on both.

  


Zuko tried to move, his arms aching to be stretched from their cramped position. But he couldn't move quite...right.

  


Trying again, panic crawled up from deep in his chest when he found he couldn't budge. There was a burn of a rope on his bare arms, and he tried to look down, away from that damned wooden beam, almost taunting him with how he had to shut his eyes at the wave of pain the movement brought along with it.

  


Instead of welcoming the dark, this time he fought against it, breathing harshly in the cold air until the dark consumed him without his will.

  


| | |

  
  


Waking up again for the third time left him feeling disorientated.

  


He was sick of the blurred wooden beam in his sight, and he was sick of not knowing how much time had passed.

  


Blindly he reached out with the senses he could use, panic no longer restricting his movements, even when the familiar burn of the rope tugged on his skin. Everything blurred and threatened to sickeningly swirl.

  


A small figure sat beside where he lay on the floor of what seemed to be some sort of wooden room, a bit away. 

  


He squinted his eyes.

  


Toph?

  


Darkness. 

  


| | |

  
  


Breathing heavy, he forced himself to wake and  _ stay  _ awake.

  


He couldn't keep track of how many times he had drifted in and out of consciousness, losing his sense of time each cycle.

  


Ugh, the swaying sensation was really not doing good things for his already queasy stomach, no matter how familiar it seemed to be.

  


At least now he knew what had happened, and why he was blacking out every few minutes. He had to force back a growl at the memory itself.

  
  
  


“My cousin taught me how to swim, and then he made me a shell bracelet. I still have it - to remember him by. It was… it was under my pillow on my ship.”

  


“What happened to your ship.”

  


Zuko's heart seized in grief for his new home that welcomed him after his banishment. His crew that had slowly become his family, even on his worst days… for Uncle.

  


“It blew up. Zhao tried to assassinate me.”

  


A moment pause, and Zuko refused to look at the younger girl. “Wow, that sucks.”

  


A laugh barked out of him, not entirely happy, but still relieved to have broken the nonexistent tension that never really surrounded him with Toph. “Yeah. Thankfully the bracelet was saved, and I still have it.” He rolled up a sleeve to reveal a twine bracelet with a small oyster-fish shell as it's centrepiece. An unusual colour - a shell that usually came in blacks, but this was a stark white with lines of red running through it like marble, and even a warm orange interior that was peeking through the faults. Cracked and worse for wear from the explosion, but still intact. Like fire in colour.

  


Toph ran her hand over it, no doubt feeling the small grooves. Her brow furrowed angrily as she felt the small crack going from one side to the other, and a chip at the top. Admiral Zhao’s explosion was less than kind - and not only for himself.

  


“I want one.”

  


Zuko snorted.

  


“No, seriously. I would like a Zuko-style shell bracelet. It'll go great with my Sokka-style meteorite armband.”

  


Well. That, at least, was interesting.

  


“Can I see it?”

  


Toph shrugged the black metal band off the top of her arm, casually. Zuko had noticed it before, but he hadn't thought anything off it. Meteorite, huh. “Sure. If I get to see your Lu Ten bracelet.”

  


He reluctantly took off and handed his shell bracelet over, not wanting to cause a fuss, but was instantly satisfied when he was handed the cool metal band. It was lighter than he had expected.

  


Whistling low, he ran his thumb over its smooth surface, trying to make it out in the darkened moonlight.

  


He'd never seen anything like it.

  


“You want to know the real reason I want one of these?”

  


Zuko looked up, handing back the armband as she gave him back his bracelet. “Because they're pretty?”

  


“No.” She gnawed at her bottom lip, and he knew that if they were standing still, she would have toed her foot into the sand. “It's not about the bracelet. More of… the memory behind it.”

  


Zuko hummed.

  


“Don't laugh, but I didn't have… friends… growing up. Unless you count the badger moles-” a shrug- “I want to keep the memory of them with me. To appreciate them.” She tapped the armband. 

  


They walked for a few more paces before Zuko sighed. “Neither had I.”

  


“Hm?”

  


“I only had Lu Ten - before he got taken by the war.”

  


Zuko understood.. truly. He did. After Lu Ten died and after Azula became cruel, it was only Ty Lee was really  _ nice  _ to him. Mai just ignored and avoided him. This… mutual understanding between them now? It felt nice. Like they were making leeway with each other in a way they couldn't with the others.

  


Naturally, she punched him and made him swear not to tell anybody about their conversation.

  


They must have been at the pier looking for shells when the ship must have spotted them.

  


The pirate ship.

  


Toph didn't see it coming since they were on wooden planks, and the ship (really it was more of a boat) was on water. 

  


The  _ pirates  _ got the drop on them because Zuko was underwater looking for the better and more sturdy shells when they grabbed Toph. 

  


He didn't hear her screaming because the water had blocked it's sound, and when he surfaced... a hit to the back of the head was all he got.

  


They took advantage of them when they had their backs turned.

  


Agni he hoped Toph was alright.

  


The figure near him shifted, and the blur cleared enough for Zuko to receive the mental equivalent of a slap to the face.

  


“Toph?” he asked, voice rough from misuse.

  


Toph shifted from where her hands were tied in front of her with some rope that looked too loose in some places, and too tight in others. A look of surprise flashed over her face before she smiled, weak but relieved. 

  


“Hey Sparks. They got you too, huh?”

  


But…

  


Silence followed for a heartbeat.

  


“Zuko… I-” she sighed shakily. “I can't see.”

  


Wood.

  


Of course.

  


It was terrible to see Toph like this. Tied, vulnerable on wood and water. No earth or stone or even metal around to ground her. Zuko pushed himself up into a sitting position with as much effort as it took to move a boulder with his pinky, in his weakened state.

  


“It’s ‘kay. Just...listen to my voice.” He shut his eyes, trying to focus on sending his heat out from himself in a soft wave. Something. Anything that Toph could feel to ground herself a bit. Agni, she looked terrified, and she had tired bags forming under her eyes.

  


“Never thought I'd be glad to feel you're not asleep,” she joked, shifting her legs into a different position. “You had me scared for a while, you jerk.”

  


Zuko furrowed his eyebrow, ignoring the twinges. “You're glad when I'm asleep?”

  


Toph rolled her eyes. Or, at least she tried to, but the feelings behind it were portrayed just the same. “You're like a furnace when you sleep. Sometimes when I’m cold, I just scoot closer to you. For the heat.” She grinned.

  


Zuko couldn't help the flush that appeared on his face, not that Toph could see it. He was warmer when he slept? No wonder he woke that time with Sokka wrapped around him like some sort of octopus-eel.

  


He made a vague confirming sound, more for Toph’s benefit that his own.

  


Things...started to make a little more sense.

  


A wave of sickness radiated through his stomach as he was reminded that he was, in fact, not completely out of the illness zone. His head pains had let up from the last few times, but was still a pounding mess. His eyes watered, and he tried to blink it away as he let his head fall back to the wooden wall he was leaning against.

  


Footsteps. 

  


And he knew that Toph heard them too, if her subtle shift and face turning white was anything to go by.

  


His heart picked up, not doing good things for the pulsing in his head, and he felt a tingling sensation as the hairs on the nape of his neck stood on end. His left eye twitched as the footsteps grew louder, echoing on the wood outside the door.

  


Three… two…

  


The wooden door at the other side of the small room pounded open, slamming against the wall, shocking his tender head with an onslaught of sudden pain as the room blurred at the new sensation. Too much too soon.

  


Oh no, not aga-

  


Dark.

  


| | |

  
  


The brightness of the room through closed eyelids was less demanding than before.

  


He forced back a growl that would have made him sound inhuman. Yeah, he was  _ really  _ getting tired of this waking-up-disoriented thing he had going on.

  


Blinking his eyes open as angrily as he could manage while sick and groggy, Zuko forced the swirling colours together. His surroundings moved around him, pulsing in and out of focus with each beat of his heart. His lips were dry as he ran his tongue across them.

  


A new figure; a pirate was sitting by the door with the sense of pure boredom, examining her sword with an air of having better things to do. A sigh as she raised the blade to her dirty white shirt and wiped it clean with the fabric.

  


Zuko cleared his throat pointedly, and the pirate’s dangling earring touched against her jaw from the minute movement of shooting her eyes up at him, widening slightly from behind curly brown locks in interest.

  


“You're awake,” she noted to the room, sliding her attention back to her sword as she cleaned it once more.

  


Zuko narrowed his eyes at her. “Yeah. I'm awake.”

  


“Yay.”

  


Zuko stared at her as she shifted her leg slightly to lean her blade against it. She was ignoring him now, pointed in her new disinterest. 

  


A raised eyebrow at his prolonged stare. “Do you want a medal or something?” she asked, not bothering to look up at him.

  


“What I  _ want _ is to know where I am.”

  


She leaned back, kicking her legs out as she reached down behind the barrel she sat on. Produced a small whetstone. 

  


The sound of stone sliding against metal was familiar, but it only drove Zuko to annoyance.

  


“Didn’t you hear anything of what I asked. Where am I? Why did you take me here?!” His voice echoed slightly in the mostly empty room. It was obvious that this particular cell was used purely for people, and the few barrels by the door.

  


The pirate pointedly slid the stone harder against the blade, and Zuko flinched at the poor treatment of the sword, even if it was to annoy him. The sounding scrape was like nails on a smooth surface.

  


He involuntarily shivered against it.

  


“Hey! I'm talking to you!”

  


Another sharp scrape.

  


“You  _ will _ tell me where I am being taken to or you will face the consequences.”

  


A short snort this time instead of the unpleasant scrape. “Oh yeah? And how will I face these consequences, exactly?” Amused blue eyes shone at him.

  


A jolt went through him at the familiar gaze. “You- You're a waterbender.”

  


“What, because I have the eyes?” She fluttered her eyelashes, looking far too amused than was probably necessary for a conversation about eye colour. 

  


No. He shook his head. “Mostly your accent. You sound like the Northern Tribe. Your eyes only sealed the deal,” he said, confused. Why were they even...

  


“Well travelled, are we?” A calculating glance was shot at him, then a barely-there shrug. “Yeah, my father was a waterbender. But how do you know I'm not a Water Tribe non-bender?” she asked with a smug smile.

  


Oh for Agni’s sake, he didn't have time for this.

  


“Look, just tell me where I am!”

  


At least the pirate seemed to be thinking about it. “Hm. No.” She went back to sharpening her blade, as if she didn't just have any conversation at all. A soft wooden creak rang from somewhere above in time with a particular rough sway.

  


Zuko felt his blood boil, and he knew for certain that he was steaming if the pirate's poorly hidden surprise was something to work off. She quickly covered it up, narrowing her eyes coldly and standing up, grabbing her sword by the hilt.

  


She crossed the small room in three strides, placing the tip of her sword under Zuko's chin, and the sharp point nicked against his skin, barely there, but still a threat and dangerous if he moved even an inch.

  


She looked into his eyes, calculating.

  


Zuko felt his stomach clench, knowing exactly what she was looking for. The people of the Earth Kingdom had, and their gazes turned sympathetic once they saw the colour - because of the scar it was easy to paint a picture. Filling in facts themselves, even if not entirely true.

  


Golden eyes of the fire nation.

  


He could pinpoint the exact moment that her search was complete, because her expression changed from open suspicion, to widening in a spark of fear, and finally to renewed disgust.

  


“Fire bending scum.” She spat on the ground in front of him, looking down at him with hatred in her eyes.

  


Zuko managed a snarky smile. “How do you know I'm not just a non-bender with a Fire Nation parent?”

  


That's what the Earth Kingdom families and merchants had presumed: a dishonourable firebending father and a poor Earth Kingdom mother.

  


“Only a true firebender would  _ steam _ . Can't even get angry without your firebending shoving itself in everybody’s face.” She pushed the point of her blade back against his skin so that it was more of a sharp warning than a nick.

  


An unamused laugh. “Ya got me,” he said, trying to raise his hands as much as he could from the ropes to display his sarcasm. “Now are you going to tell me where I am?” Zuko was tempted to flutter his eyelashes like she had done earlier, but the sharp pain from behind his eyes prevented him. Pity.

  


“I won't give anything to you, ash maker.”

  


Zuko saw red mix in with the colours in his vision. “No. You took me away from the island, so you have to at least tell me  _ where _ you're taking me!”

  


Before he could realise what happened, fresh pain blossomed in his nose, and the pirate was stepping back, wiping down her sword’s hilt. Disgusted at still seeing him awake, he could do nothing to prevent her from pinching somewhere in the back of his neck. Like Ty Lee.

  


Then…nothing.

  


~ | | | ~

  
  


The Duke was staring at him with wide, open eyes, and Zuko could say that he was at least a  _ little _ freaked out. He and the other kid, Pipsqueak, he thought, had been watching him all morning. 

  


If Zuko wasn't used to being stared at, he would have yelled at them to stop already. But he was, so he sucked it up and continued on.

  


Haru and Tao were just across the courtyard, looking at some strange pink and white speckled plant they had found, and asked Zuko to take a look at in case it was poisonous.

  


Better risk his hand than their own.

  


Zuko shrugged internally. Maybe it was some sort of Earth Kingdom courtship thing. Even if the plant was only an airlobe-shribs blossom. Tasted fantastic in tea. 

  


Zuko rolled his eyes. Three guesses as to how he knew that piece of information.

  


The stares the two kids were giving him were harmless enough, so Zuko just ignored them altogether. He couldn't chance a disagreement in case Katara would walk by and overhear, then go accusing him of some grand scheme of attacking the children and turning bad.  _ “As if he was even good in the first place.” _

  


He could already hear it. 

  


Zuko sighed. He really just wanted Katara to tell him what he was doing wrong anymore so he could fix it, and make it up to her. He already apologised a thousand times over, and he really hated the cruel jabs, and the heated glares she gave him constantly.

  


He felt a small tug on his shirt.

  


Glancing down beside him, The Duke smiled widely from where he stood, nervous. Zuko raised his eyebrow at him, urging him to continue.

  


“Uh, Pipsqueak and I were wondering… if you-” he scratched the nape of his neck, directly below the too-large helmet. “If you knew any cool tricks.”

  


Zuko blinked, relaying the sentence in his mind. So they… they weren't staring because of his scar? “Uh-”

  


“It's cool if you don't, but Aang showed us this cool airbending trick with some little pebbles, and Toph showed us how to carve some stuff in sand. We were just thinkin’ that-” he trailed off.

  


One look at the small frown on the young boy's face had Zuko reluctantly nodding. “Yeah. I know a few things, I suppose.”

  


What did he know?

  


Most of his training was in preparation for the war, and most of it was purely for battle, or burning down stuff. Granted he only started firebending at the late age of seven, but he had to know  _ some  _ trick… think.

  


He shifted from his seated position on the water fountain.

  


Well, he knew one thing. It wasn't really a  _ trick,  _ per say, but Ty Lee had thought it was pretty cool. Azula had been...less amused.

  


“Yeah,” he shook his head gently, willing the memory of Azula to leave his head. “I know a trick.”

  


The Duke visibly brightened. “Really? Hey Pipsqueak, get over here, he said yeah!” His motioning gathered the attention of more than the buff kid, but Haru and Tao had begun to make their way over to the fountain too, all but abandoning the mysterious flower, no doubt curious to what the source of all the commotion was.

  


Zuko braced slightly at the small crowd, but shook off his surprise with a small smirk. “Yeah, watch this.”

  


He brought a hand up, and quickly clicked his finger, sending a few warm sparks flying across the stone, bright and sparkling. A few even dared to become another colour other than orange and yellow altogether, but it was only a trick of the sunlight. They died out in a puff a few seconds later, like embers of a fire.

  


“Woah.” The Duke had wide eyes, impressed by the weak firebending. “That was so cool. It was exactly like magic’d spark rocks! Do it again.”

  


Well, some people can be easily impressed.

  


A sad feeling of nostalgia overwashed him at the thought, but he covered it up when he shared an amused look with Haru, he clicked again, huffing in amusement when The Duke quickly stomped down on the spark with his shoe. Tao laughed and shook his head.

  


“Impressive,” Tao said, eyes not leaving the spot where the last spark had extinguished. He looked up at Zuko. “But can you do it with both hands at once?”

  


“I don't know. Never tried.”

  


Pipsqueak sat down, allowing The Duke to crawl up and perch on his shoulder like some sort of reptile-parrot. It was a strange sight, but one that the firebender was slowly becoming used to.

  


Haru nodded thoughtfully. “Couldn't hurt to try?”

  


Zuko looked at his hands, both rough and calloused from years of training, and years of using the dao swords, mainly during training with Sword Master Piandao, or under the name of the Blue Spirit. Well...It was true - couldn't hurt to try.

  


He clicked both his left and his right at the same time, and the result was effective. Twice as much sparks flew from his hands to the stone ground, though they were less bright or colourful than the sparks from only on hand.

  


Still, that didn't affect The Duke’s childlike awe. “Cool.”

  


“What's cool?”

  


Zuko jumped to his feet, nearly twisting his ankle from where it had been asleep. “Ow! Agni above, Toph. Don't do that!”

  


Toph stood behind the fountain, making her way toward them. She shrugged, smug air about her. “I'll keep it in mind for next time.”

  


Zuko settled back into his seat on the stone, willing his heartbeat to level out again. “Keep what in mind?”

  


A sharp smirk. “That you're scared easily. Like a catowl.”

  


Haru and Tao laughed, but The Duke had Pipsqueak were gone. Since when… there, up on the stairs and making their way towards the giant Pai Sho table that Uncle had gotten a great kick out of three years ago.

  


He shook his head, looking back towards Toph. “Please don't tell Sokka.”

  


A sigh. “Fine _. _ I won't tell  _ Sokka. _ ”

  


“Or anybody else?”

  


“No promises there.”

  


A loud groan had Haru and Tao laughing again. 

  


Toph sat down heavily next to him on the fountain’s raised stone with a loud exhale of air, and Haru took his queue to sit down next to Tao’s wheelchair. The earthbender leaned an elbow on his shoulder, acting as if she were the taller one.

  


“Let's face it, you're too funny not to go blabbering about. Now-” a clap of her hands- “What's this cool thing I need to see.”

  


“See?”

  


“Yeah, Haru. You see with your eyes, I see with my feet. You should try it sometime.”

  


Haru shifted uneasily under the weight of Toph’s blind gaze. “Um, yeah. Go on.”

  


Zuko jumped in to save him from his fate. “The cool thing was this.” He clicked his fingers again,  but with one hand to allow them to appear brighter. The sparks scattered slightly, and finally landed in the space between Zuko and Tao, dying out in an almost golden green, and bringing the small amount of heat with it.

  


Zuko smiled proudly.

  


A moment passed.

  


“You...clicked your fingers.”

  


His smile fell. “Yeah, but it sent sparks.”

  


A raised eyebrow. “That it?”

  


Tao smiled but covered it with a hand. Zuko blinked at Toph, and froze his hands in the air. “Yeah?”

  


Toph leaned against him so her back was flush against Zuko’s side as she kicked her feet up, seeming relaxed, even on the hard stone. “Can you do anything else? Sparks don't really to it for me.” She pointedly waved a hand in front of her face.

  


Well...um.

  


“Maybe.” He flicked his finger backwards, starting from the base of his thumb and flicking out ways in a perfect mirror opposite of clicking his fingers. 

  


A small flame sparked to life at the top of his index finger, like a small candle. A tinier heartbeat at the exact top of his index, pulsing and breathing. In battle it would seem more of a laughing stock, a tiny flame would be useless against another person. But as was the design. At least it was handy for seeing into small spaces on his ship when something had gone wrong and needed some of the metal panels to be taken off to look beneath... Uncle was proud of him for coming up with the clever and ‘adorable’ light source.

  


He had shook it off and stomped away, reeling at how his fire was labelled something so puny as  _ adorable  _ when Azula had accomplished greater feats of firebending strength at half his age _. _ But… he could see it now. This tiny flame was...tiny.

  


He held it out, a tentative smile on his face.

  


“Yeah, still not doing it. Unless I can feel it-” she stomped the back of her foot against the stone from where they lay against him- “I can't really judge whether it's good or not.”

  


Zuko let his hand fall, and he could help the feeling of disappointment crawl onto his face as he blushed. “Right.”

  


Toph seemed to think. She reached behind her, reaching awkwardly for Zuko's shoulder as she patted it, trying to be reassuring. “It's okay. I can call you Sparky if it makes you feel any better?”

  


“Please don't.”

  


A dismissing shrug. “ ‘Aight then.”

  


| | |

  
  


The world blurred, and the assault of light was far more painful than was probably even legal.

  


A pain let itself become known in his head before he could even begin to think about opening his eyes. The piercing skull pulsed, and ached at the nape of his skull, splitting around the sides of his head, and resting firmly behind his eyes once more.

  


His whole head felt aflame with the pain.

  


A cough broke through his fevered mind, jarring his head further. His lungs felt as though they had been tied with a belt, restricting and constricting in pain with each hacking cough, each one more painful than the last.

  


His eyes watered, unseeing. 

  


The coughing finally died down, and his head pulsed with the onslaught.

  


It was only a short while later that the dark pulled him under again.

  


| | |

  
  


There was screaming somewhere to his left. Voices, dulled and sounding through cotton carried to him through the dark. Zuko stirred, moaning softly, ignoring the noises. Hopefully they'd go away soon. He didn't want anything to pull him away from-

  


As though he had just been dragged from the water, the noises cleared. Becoming sharp, and managing to pierce through his eardrums and rupture any painless silence he had seconds ago.

  


What on Koh’s domain was going on?

  


He drew back his eyelids with far more effort than usual, and Zuko forced back any internal panic at how such a simple task seemed so much for him. 

  


Focus.

  


Toph screamed again. The pirates yelled, bringing an onslaught of fresh pain to Zuko's ears, but he couldn't make out any particular string of word through his fevered mind. The clarity of the words pulsed, as though his ears were being covered by waves deafening and retreating.

  


“What on T------- is wrong wit----im?!” The pirate from earlier jabbed her sharpened sword to where he sat. There was another pirate, a red and greenish bandana on his head, and stubble. Lots of stubble. 

  


Wow, how could he wear that much leather without it charring or peeling… oh right. Probably not a firebender.

  


Zuko closed his eyes against the brightness that his mind intensified for that split second that made it too much to keep them open.

  


Muffled cries. “I don't kn---. Pl------lp him!”

  


His pulse throbbed in his ears.

  


“I don't have------- firebender!”

  


When he managed to pry his eyes open, the new bandana pirate was staring at him. Shock, most likely, but his vision was so blurry, he couldn't be sure.

  


“--------fireb------- this ship?!”

  


An angry nod. Or maybe a grimace. 

  


There was a head movement involved.

  


“He'll die, j--t he-----!”

  


Toph was jabbing her hands in wild motions. Demanding something, then. She did that when she was demanding something from Katara but the waterbender was being too stubborn to give in.

  


“No.”

  


He tuned out the rest of the words when the throbbing came to be too much. Fine, it was taking too much of his effort to listen anyways. Everything he did took too much effort. Breathing hurt. Was it even possible for hair to hurt? His did.

  


He closed his eyes, finding a little comfort in the vibrations ringing in the wood. Probably from the yelling and raised voices, but he didn't care. He just wanted silence and dark again.

  


Toph was screaming.

  


Zuko darted his eyes open, taking a second to realise just how bad an idea that was when pain shot across his nerves. 

  


The blurry figure of a pirate was standing over Toph, and Toph’s figure was pulling into herself, scared.

  


They were terrifying the toughest person he knew.

  


They were probably  _ hurting _ her.

  


_       “Zuko… I-” she sighed shakily. _ “ _ I can't see.” _

  


Clenching a fist, he sent every last ounce of fire he had left towards his skin, one specific spot to burn- The ropes near his elbow gave way with a satisfying  _ snap  _ that even Zuko's lagged mind could process.

  


Punch forward a fist. Towards the blurred pirate-shaped figures. Flames shot out, and the figures jumped back in surprise, putting an abrupt stop to the yelling, before different, more urgent yelling started.

  


His vision dimmed for a second, and he had to rest, not wasting time when it finally came back.

  


Jumping up, he lashed out with everything he had, pain be damned.

  


“Firebender! I told you!”

  


The voices came clearer, in retaliation for his cleared senses, his head pounded mercilessly with every move.

  


There were definitely two of them, the pirate from earlier, and the new unshaven face: a sword and… was that a bat?

  


Dodging a swipe of the hard wood, he lashed out with flames in the form of a sharp kick. Just the way the dragons taught him. Clawing his way through the defense. 

  


He had to protect Toph.

  


“Ishka, what do we do?!”

  


The woman snarled her teeth. “Just grab him!”

  


The unshaven Bandana lunged at him, baring nails and a ready to get dirty that Zuko just managed to jump back to avoid, but in doing so his left foot twinged painfully at the sudden jump beneath him.

  


He landed hard his knee, his head pulling against his every pain he had ever felt. The floorboard creaked dangerously under his sudden drop.

  


There was definitely another pirate figure when his vision finally cleared again, forcing himself to straighten slightly, but a sharp kick to the jaw sent him back firmly to the floor in a pained heap. The wood splintered against his face, rough as he tried to ride past the pain.

  


“Zuko!”

  


He opened his eyes, not knowing when he had closed them and kept them closed.

  


A side view of the floor, Toph’s small shape, and some pirate boots.

  


Another  _ kick _ and he was snapped back into the dark and silence that he had craved earlier.

  


~ | | | ~

  


“Ooh, that's a pretty trick!”

  


Zuko looked up from his seat in the fire palace stairs overlooking the gardens. Then to the bounding girl in pink who had somehow appeared next to him. Her hair was out of her signature braid for once, bouncing around her face from being kept in the plait for so long.

  


“Really?” he asked, hesitantly. 

  


A bright nod. “Of course. I couldn't do that in a million years! For obvious reasons.” She wriggled her fingers at him lightly.

  


Ignoring her finger wriggling, Zuko furrowed his brow and looked to where the tiny sparks had extinguished moments before Ty Lee had interrupted his concentration.

  


Seven years old and he could just struggle to make  _ sparks _ .

  


Azula was so much younger than him and she was already performing difficult katas that took months, if not  _ years _ to perfect.

  


_ A prodigy. _

  


“Can you do it again?”

  


When he looked up, only bright grey eyes gazed back from behind the wavy hair that had strayed too close to her sight, expecting. Waiting.

  


Shrugging, Zuko brought his hands up, trying to recreate his attempt. He struck the palms of his hands together, like spark rocks, and sure enough feathery strips of light floated away from his hands. Like a strange sparkly candle flame.

  


“Pretty!”

  


Oh course. 

  


Ty Lee found everything pretty, or amazing - even his mediocre bending attempts.

  


Well- they kinda were pretty. Fragile, and bright...

  


A cruel laugh made Zuko remember exactly who Ty Lee was in the company of before she bounced over to him. He cringed, internally bashing himself for forgetting so easily.

  


“Is that  _ all  _ you can do?”

  


Azula walked over the first step with the confidence of a firebending master. And well… with the progress she was making, Zuko wouldn't have been surprised if her bending teacher had informed the family that Azula had already mastered fire.

  


“Two year old babies could make better sparks by  _ accident _ . And you say that's you  _ trying _ ?” She smirked, a cruel facade that shouldn't ever be on the face of a five year old. At least a seven year old like himself was grown up enough to look that mad. “I have to laugh, Zuzu.”

  


Ugh that nickname!

  


It used to be cute when they were younger and she couldn't pronounce it properly, now it just grated on his last nerves.

  


“Well, I think Zuko's sparks were pretty. They were a whole lot brighter than normal sparks, and I saw a pink spark too!”

  


“Oh Ty Lee,” she drew her eyes towards her friend, “you were imagining it. No way  _ Zuzu _ could have bent a different colour flame. That's almost impossible.”

  


“Almost?”

  


Trust Ty Lee to take that bait. Zuko barely refrained from rolling his eyes.

  


“Because  _ I'll _ be the one to bend another colour. The only one within the past six hundred years.” Her small golden eyes narrowed at Zuko. “And the  _ only _ one in these last centuries yet.”

  


Of course.

  


Their scrolls in the palace archives somewhere had readings that only the royal family could access. Azula had bashed on and on about how she had read up on legendary masters of both fire and lightning, creating striking blue flames. Hot to the touch, hotter than any other known form.

  


It was tales of  _ legends _ , and never actually proven past the word of old eroded papers. They were tales and nothing more.

  


Azula was just hoping for a firebeetle to want to do more than build tunnels.

  


Impossible.

  


“But… I'm almost certain I saw some pinkish sparks.”

  


A narrowed glare led Ty Lee to toeing her foot into the concrete, nervous.

  


“Well, pink sparks or none, it was still pretty. Wasn't it Mai?”

  


Mai almost jumped from her silent place behind Azula, eyes going wide before she cooled herself into faint nonchalance. She shrugged, averting her eyes. “I dunno. Don't care.”

  


A shot of annoyance burned through him as he clenched his fists, glancing away so he couldn't see that impassive face. Mai had been steadily getting worse and worse the more she hung out with his sister. She used to  _ talk  _ to him, and now? 

  


Zuko huffed a humourless laugh.

  


Now she would barely look at him for more than two seconds without looking away, or just so happened to have some place else to be.

  


“Zuko!”

  


Zuko snapped his head towards his oh so joyous sister. “What?”

  


Azula blinked, probably taken aback by his strangely sincere question. She smothered it a second later, her face smoothing into her innocent smile once again, obviously fake. “I was just asking you to make some more sparks for me. Like a big brother?”

  


How his mind made the mental equivalent of exclamation marks was beyond him. “No.”

  


“Oh, so you can't even spark anymore. What's the matter, under pressure?” she said. “Come on Zuzu, show me your sparks.”

  


Ty Lee jumped back with a squeak as she lunged for him, hands outstretched, and Zuko leaned back before she could reach. The hand flew by his head, and he saw a slight heat wave wash where it had swiped through the air.

  


Had she… ?

  


“What is wrong with you?!” he demanded, standing up. Azula only looked at him with pure playful hunger, like a lion-tiger playing with the cricketmouse before it ate. Ty Lee and Mai were silent. Zuko threw his hands up and groaned in frustration. “I'm leaving, don't even think about following me!”

  


He stormed down the steps, not sparing a second glance for the non-benders.

  


How could he have even thought to allow Ty Lee to see his bending? His face burned as he thought about it. She was used to Azula and her bending that had mastered every kata of her age and above. Azula was perfect, Azula was strong, Azula was this that and the other.

  


Azula was a  _ prodigy. _

  


Gritting his teeth, Zuko walked faster.

  


Ty Lee was just saying those things because she felt pity for him. She didn't seem like the type to build him up purely for her own gain - maybe she felt bad that he could only bend tiny sparks that a normal three year old could. Nothing like his  _ little sister. _

  


_ A true prodigy. _

  


It was another hour before anybody saw him. He was found sitting by the turtle duck pond, staring at the small chicks as they swam after their mother. The water lapping against the rocks at the sides was calming, as was watching the turtle ducks going through their ordinary everyday lives.

  


He heard a sigh just as one brave chick swam up to a particularly large reed that every other chick seemed to be avoiding. “Zuko.”

  


He hmfed a sigh as he looked down, refusing to meet his mother's gaze.

  


She sat down on the grass beside him. “Zuko, what's wrong?”

  


He lowered his head and balled his fists into his tunic. The soft feel of the fabric lessened the pain on his knuckles, but it still throbbed after a few seconds. “Nothing.”

  


Mother stayed silent, and when Zuko dared to glance up, he saw she was watching the tiny turtle ducks with interest.

  


They sat for another moment, and he instinctively relaxed in her presence. Something about his mother… it just made him  _ want  _ to open up.

  


“Is my firebending really that bad?”

  


Mother looked at him, eyes unblinking for a few moments in what he guessed was shock. “Your firebending is perfect. What makes you think otherwise?”

  


He breathed a sigh. “Azula.”

  


Arms encased him, and he was brought into a hug. “Not to sound like Uncle-” a pause allowed Zuko to giggle at the comparison before she continued, eyes growing warm- “but the flower that blooms last often blooms the most beautiful.”

  


Mood lifted, he shrugged. “I have no idea what you mean, but thanks.”

  


“Come on then,” she urged, releasing Zuko’s small body from her warm hold. “Show me what you have.”

  


He looked down at his hand, a mirror of before Ty Lee had spoken to him. They were warm, just perfect for his trick.

  


He clapped his hands together, sending the brightened sparks towards the pond in front of him, but they died out before they could even reach the water- and nevertheless, the mother turtle duck squaked and swam away, leading her babies in a squabbling mess to swim after her.

  


Zuko deflated. Was that it? His sparks earlier were much better than this.

  


“Wow. Was that a green?”

  


Mother was gazing to the part of air the sparks had been, and a small amount of a pride coerced through him, but mostly confusion. “I don't know. Ty Lee said it looked pink.”

  


A soft smile, and a warm hand over his where it lay on the stone. His mother was a non-bender, unusual for her ancestry - whatever that meant - but Zuko didn't care like Azula had begun to. She was warm all the same. Caring.

  


“They're beautiful.” She seemed to half zone out, staring at the sparks’ dying embers littered across the grass. “You should practice them.”

  


A small smile spread over his young face - his mother loved his trick. “I suppose.”

  


“Have you tried clicking your fingers? Maybe-”

  


Colours faded, but Zuko startled, trying to dart his eyes around at the warm oranges and reds of his world dripping like fresh ink. The grass began to wash it's emerald green into the pond, the blue becoming engulfed by a black that spread through the water. 

  


Whipping his head towards his mother for security, he found that she was frozen, stuck in the picture of looking over the darkening turtle duck pond, hand on his, but it was growing cold and grey. No longer the warm anchor it always was.

  


The world began fading out, pain lacing through him.

  


Everything was only growing colder.

  


Colder.

  


Cold.

  


He shivered, and came to. 

  


Groggily, not able to summon the energy to open his eyes.

  


Voices, mainly deep. Solid hum.

  


One other voice, light, and angry. Sharp syllables.

  


A smaller voice, solid. Secure. Angrier.

  


Everything was too much.

  


Cold.

  


It seemed everything was cold, even his insides. Everything except for his lungs, which seemed to burn as though the fires of Agni were set to them through every shuddery breath.

  


A cold hand on his forehead sent him shivering. Or maybe he was already shivering.

  


Cold.

  


Agni he just wanted...to sleep.

  


Yeah, that sounded good.

  


Sleep.

  


| | |

  
  


Swaying - sharp and clear, like crystal being polished after years of being cloudy. It was actually making him feel sick to hear and feel everything around him so lucidly.

  


Heat, and cold. Both at once.

  


Zuko curled in on himself, and tried unsuccessfully to control his shivering by clenching his already stiff jaw. His entire body ached, muscles cramped and headache dulled before settling back into its steady thumping.

  


He dragged his eyes open past his newer bone deep exhaustion, jarring his head with how  _ clear _ everything was. Clarity like before the whole getting-hit-over-the-head fiasco.

  


The beam stood out once more.

  


A groan escaped past his dry lips when even the beam’s dull brown colour became too bright to look at.

  


“Zuko?” Toph’s disconnected voice asked.

  


Worry, suspicion, surprise.

  


“I'm fine,” he whispered in a small voice, but he didn't know who he was trying to convince, Toph or himself, but he hoped that his voice defied the obvious lie. After all, Toph couldn't tell the difference between truth and deceit without earth or stone underneath them.

  


He felt as though she knew anyways.

  


Even now, speaking or shifting minutely left him short of breath, and he struggled to control it. 

  


_ In, hold, out. In, hold, out. _

  


He felt  _ drained  _ of all his energy.

  


_ In, hold, out. In, hol- _

  


He coughed violently, shuddering at the intense cold and exhaustion.

  


Hold on…

  


Peeling his eyes open, he forced his eyes to glance down to his wrists, suspicion and dread pooling in the depths of his stomach, which only multiplied as he got his confirmation. He shuddered in a rough, shaky breath through his teeth.

  


Bands.

  


Metal bands that sat on both of his wrists like lead, but Zuko knew - he  _ knew -  _ they were much, much worse.

  


“-uko!” Toph was screaming, but still the pirate sleeping by the door had miraculously stayed asleep. The way she screamed must have meant she had said his name many times before he heard. He winced. “Zuko? Sparks are you alright?”

  


He opened his mouth, but he couldn't answer, his words stuck in his throat as he felt the air punch from his lungs.

  


Chi blocking bracelets.

  


The very bracelets that the Fire Nation used on the newer Southern Water Benders that he had read about in the history scripts. Fire Nation knew - they  _ knew  _ \- that denying a bender their bending was one of the worst forms of torture. It started with a feeling of being in the opposite of your bending skills - a firebender would feel cold and shiver, waterbender would feel feverish and hot, earthbenders would feel lost and insecure. Frightened beyond their mind.

  


Airbenders were never tested for the effects after… Sozin. But it was thought that they would feel short of breath, wheezy, and would lose all their spirit and lightheartedness.

  


No worse torture than to be stripped of what you are, and the forced to suffer the worst of the opposite.

  


That was only the first step, past the exhaustion.

  


He could never read past that.

  


While in Ba Sing Se, he found the bands, those damned bands that he had thought he would never see in his life. That he  _ hoped  _ he would never have the experience of finding - in the Dai Li’s Headquarters. 

  


Never before had he felt so sickened. He wanted to escape as soon as he saw them, with each nation's reversed insignia carved into the metal.

  


He had almost thrown up with the horror of thinking about them being well used. There were so many of them too, lining the walls of what he had assumed was some sickening storage room.

  


Zuko had only noticed that he was shaking, his hands blurred slightly in front of his face. The shivering was a smaller movement that he knew came from the cold, but now? Now the shaking was from his terror. Dread. Horror. He didn't even try to still his hands, knowing that it was a null point.

  


Oh Agni, he couldn't breathe.

  


He gulped in air as quietly as he could, not to alert Toph, or the new sleeping guard. But it was no use _. In, hold, out. In, hold, out. In, hold, stutter, out, gasp. Steady. In, hold, out. _

  


“Zuko?!”

  


“Yeah,” he choked, not hearing his own voice. His eyes were fixed on the metal bracelet that was fastened directly under Lu Ten’s bracelet - thank Agni it was okay and not crushed to dust, or trapped under the unforgiving metal. “Yeah, I'm- ‘m here.”

  


He didn't have it in him to lie to her and say ‘ _ I'm fine _ .’

  
  


| | |

  
  


He didn't have any on his ankles. That in itself was enough to still give him hope.

  


When the lazy, gruff guard stood up and walked out the door - no doubt for a guard switch or a bathroom break - he tested his breath. Feeling the warmth spread in his core was familiar, and extremely welcomed with shaking openness, it spread from his stomach to his chest. Smoke tendrils caught his eye with a smug grey, but as the chi flowed through his body to warm him from the cold, he immediately cut himself off with a sharp gasp and a sickness.

  


He- the feeling of the chi being so suddenly cut off from his arms… it was too much. His arms stayed ghastly cold, and where his shoulders met his torso… it was like a solid wall had been built up.

  


Zuko breathed harshly.  _ In, hold, out. In, hold, out. _

  


If- if he still had his breathing, and his legs open… then if he and Toph both attacked at once, they'd have a chance.

  


A small one, but it was still a chance, especially now since they had some form of metal for Toph to bend. It was a grim thought, but it was small victories.

  


The new guard entered the room, holding a bottle loosely of what Zuko assumed was fire whiskey...but considering how these pirates seemed to hate fire the chance of that was low. The pirate gazing at the barrel the previous pirates all chose to sit on, and Zuko wondered, not for the first time, what was in it. Fresh water? Food? Or blasting jelly.

  


It would help if it was the latter, because then he could set it alight during their escape.

  


The pieces were all forming together, allowing a haphazard if not complete plan. Sure, there were a few pieces still needing to be put together, but they needed to escape sooner rather than later.

  


Zuko started tapping his nails into the wood he lay on - Morse code was a Fire Nation way of communicating… but hopefully.. 

  


Yeah. Toph said they spent some time in the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun.

  


She would have come across it.

  


He tapped, praying that it would work.

  


Hoping that Toph would understand - Even if she could, Zuko couldn't tell because she wasn't giving anything away on her face, impassive and staring in front of her, as if focusing on something. 

  


This new guard seemed to be the pirate with the red and greenish bandana from a few hours ago… or was it a few days. Annoyance flared up when he couldn't even tell how long they had been captured for anymore.

  


Hopefully the rest of their gang was looking for them. If not him, then Toph.

  


Bandana walked over to him, probably for the usual check of the restraints, but there was a stark difference. He wore a grin - no, a cruel smirk - as he tugged on the ropes tying his arms to his torso, making it bite into his right arm from where his sleeve had ripped.

  


“You won't be needed in these anymore.” Surprisingly, he brought out a small blade and cut the rope, making Zuko long for the blade he had left in his sleeping bag back at camp. The ropes fell to the ground, and he could breathe again.  _ In, out. In, hold, hold. _ “Not after these have kicked in,” he said, tugging more harshly on the chi blocking bands. The action alone sent a wash of sickness jolt in his stomach.

  


Toph paused in the corner of his vision.

  


“Y’know, I think I'll enjoy seeing a firebending  _ scum  _ like you writing in pain after we're done with ya.” He took a short swig of the bottle, making Zuko cringe and wrinkle his nose at the smell. Definitely not firewhiskey because firewhiskey smelled harsh, but not unpleasant. “An’ that's even without us touching you. These-” he tapped the band- “will do all the work for us.”

  


Zuko froze. He knew exactly what the bands would do, but only to a certain extent.

  


“All of your chi will slowly just  _ drain  _ out of you, and if we're lucky enough you'll live to give us money for your price. Never bend again though.”

  


Dread. He felt his eyes widen and the blood drain from his face as his entire body drew as taught as bowstring. Wh- 

  


“That is pain enough. And not just physical.”

  


He straightened up, settling back on his feet.

  


Zuko couldn't stand to listen to this anymore. Fueling rage into his bending against his newer learning from the masters, he lashed out with his breath. Fire whipped out, and the pirate snapped back in surprise, eyebrows almost lost in his hairline. He jumped to his feet, adrenaline being the only thing overpowering his bone deep exhaustion at this point. 

  


He lashed out with a ferocity that frankly scared him, but he couldn't find it in him to care. These were the pirates who had taken them away from their friends, and who knows who else’s children they had stolen in the past. These were the pirates who were planning on selling him and Toph. This was the pirate who put the bands on his wrists - Zuko could patch his face in his mind now.

  


Fire whipped the pirate back, forcing him and his alcohol breath over to one wall. 

  


It was Toph’s turn now - He had put in the morse that he had metal bands on his wrists.

  


He held his hands, waiting.

  


Nothing happened.

  


A snap to his head sent him back, and he struggled to regain his posture and stance, but his moment of pause had cost him time, and he couldn't get steady before another punch landed. With this new band, the exhaustion fought past his adrenaline, and lagged his usual sharp reflexes.

  


Another punch landed in his vision, but he could barely feel the pain anymore. He didn't know whether that was a blessing, or a sign that something really bad had happened to him and it was his body’s way of protecting him.

  


As he was knocked to the floor, Zuko realised past his darkening vision something he had hoped against earlier.

  


_ Toph didn't know morse code. _

  
  


| | |

  
  
  


He woke up to swaying, but he didn't open his eyes. Not yet - feigning unconsciousness.

  


He- he lost again to the pirates… he was so sure- so  _ certain  _ that it would work… but Toph. She didn't know morse code. That was a problem.

  


The swaying and sound of water beating past the wall by his head meant that he was still on the boat. They hadn't reached wherever the pirates were bringing him. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, Zuko didn't know.

  


The sense of draining pushed against his senses as he drifted between thoughts and bouts of worldlessness, hearing faint words past the washes.

  


“Explain why I shouldn't put these bracelets on you too, and not just your fire friendly friend here”

  


Oh yeah. Pirates. Sounded like Bandana by the voice - did he ever get tired of annoying them?

  


“You'll be wasting your time,” Toph said in a dejected voice. “Even if I  _ could _ bend, I'm blind. I can't see.”

  


Well… that last part wasn't a lie. 

  


The- the pirates here really didn't know who they were, did they? Bandana grumbled and footsteps led away to where Zuko knew the barrel by the door was. He hadn't heard of the Water Tribe pirate in a while - Ishka? Maybe she was so disgusted by a firebender on board. If she knew he was a Fire Prince, then she would no doubt have slaughtered him where he sat.

  


Zuko gulped at the thought, and imagine his shivering to be purely from the bands on his wrists, but then he instantly froze...Wait.

  


Ishka would definitely have killed him if he was  _ Zuko of the Fire Nation _ . And if Zuko was with the Blind Bandit of Gaoling and earthbending master sifu to the avatar? They'd have fastened both of them up with so much chi blocking bands that you wouldn't be able to see their skin past the cool touch of the metal. Would they even have taken them from their island in the first place?

  


Most likely not. 

  


He shivered again, more violently.

  


“Please be okay, Sparks,” Toph’s small voice whispered, finally making Zuko peel open his eyes and face the rotting beam from before.

  


He sat up with a sharpened breath to try get his numbed legs into a more comfortable position, but paused when he heard a sounding  _ thunk  _ of his ankle against the wooden board. He looked down, and his breath caught at the sight of two more bands - fastened directly onto his ankles. Darting his unbound hands up to his neck, his blood ran cold when they met with metal.

  


Chi blocking collar.

  


His breath came in shallow when he found himself answering. “I'm okay Toffee.”

  


Toph was sobbing, but Zuko didn't startle at the unexpected action, only too guilty about how she couldn't tell he had lied. 

  


“I'm gonna let you away with that nickname because I thought you were dead,” she sniffed, recalling Zuko's words. “I thought-”

  


A cold feeling iced through his veins that was not completely from the bands.

  


“Yeah. Not dead.” Was that his voice? It sounded so weak, and airy. And faint. He cleared his throat. “You call me Sparks but I'm not able to give you a ridiculous name? I have to laugh.” Better, but not his usual voice still.

  


Toph tried to roll her eyes, but there was a small smile on her face as she leaned toward the sound of his voice from across the small wooden cell.

  


He didn't bring it up.

  
  


| | |

  
  


The room swayed as usual, and Zuko started to suspect that his and Toph’s ridiculous game of eye-spy was getting on their new guard’s last nerve. Toph was naming any little thing that came to her mind, because she obviously couldn’t tell the difference with no sight, so she couldn't care less what was  _ actually _ in their room or not - Katara, a hambrug beetle, badger moles, a passionate merchant of cabbages, and even when she used Appa at one point in the game had gotten them a stink eye that was so funny it was a pity she couldn't see it.

  


Who knew annoying pirates could be so fun?

  


Especially if the pirate had one eye covered in a thick eyepatch so the eyerolls were over exaggerated to get his point across.

  


Things had been looking up for the past two hours, Zuko's headache was mostly gone - replaced by a bone deep chill that sent him chattering his teeth and shivering, sure, but at least he could stay awake for probably the longest amount of time since he had ended up here.

  


_ Cold _ .

  


Zuko ignored it and guessed again. “Platypus-turtle?”

  


Toph grinned and shook her head. “Close, but no.” Hm.

  


He was just about to guess  _ turtle ducks  _ when the door opened for the usual guard switch - but it was unusual to see the new guard with  _ black fabric _ gripped in her hand. Zuko narrowed his eyes at it… what were they… ? 

  


She handed the fabric to the guard supervising them with a sharp nod, but stayed by the door. The guard grudgingly stood up, grumbling, with the fabric bundled in a fist, and walked over to where he was seated.

  


Blindfolds.

  


The black fabric slipped over his head and fastened into place over his eyes so they couldn't see his panicked expression. The world went dark, like all those times before when he was knocked from consciousness and into the confines of his own mind. But this time it was not his own mind that smothered his senses… it was a pirate’s doing, and somehow that made it so much worse.

  


He tried to pass it off, but the cold in his bones spiked and left him short of breath. 

  


This was new. They hadn't done this before.

  


He heard a scoff.

  


“Are you kidding me? I'm  _ blind _ !” Amusement smothered the panic and fear. Of course the pirates would be Agni forsaken idiots. “Fine, just put it on me then, if it makes you feel better to blindfold a blind little girl.”

  


He had to hold in his snort of laughter by digging his nails into the palms of his hands. Oh he wished he could have seen the looks on the pirates’ faces when she said that.

  


Something was jabbed into his side, and he knew they wanted him to stand, but instead he tilted his head in faked confusion and false childlike innocence that he had well and truly lost a long time ago. Back when he was thirteen. “Yeah?” 

  


A gruff humph. “Get up.”

  


Zuko shrugged internally and shakily stood, his legs almost giving out beneath him. Damn. Those bands were already starting to affect him, badly. He fell onto his knees after they gave out, and was gifted a light and impatient toe to the side.

  


“I said get up!”

  


Zuko huffed a sharp breath through his teeth, and let his shoulders square before he stood up again, accepting his fate of going blind.

  


He was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and hauled along at a pace almost too fast for him to keep up with, the swaying sensation almost tipping him over once again.

  


Agni fell five times in front of the dragons before he became a Great Spirit.

  


It was a thought like that that kept him walking, through what he assumed was under the deck.

  


Sunlight.

  


He could pinpoint the exact moment that they entered above the deck, Agni’s rays soaking into his skin as his body and chi practically sighed in relief. Pausing to absorb as much as he could, he could feel the tension drain from every muscle in his body, and suddenly the chi blocking bands that was secured to him didn't seem so terrible. If he had this, he was perfectly okay.

  


He breathed in deeply, and if his eyes were open before, he would have shut them as he tilted his head towards the sky.

  


A rough push from the hand on his collar shocked him from his bittersweet reunion with his chi source, and he was sent to his knees again, and Zuko’s captive instantly yanked him back up and pushed him forward.

  


The sound of water lapping against a solid surface as the small spurts crashed made him realise he had been led to the edge of the boat without him knowing he had moved, too invested in his feeling of just  _ sun _ . 

  


It was extremely jarring to go from the swaying he had grown accustomed to, to having his feet solidly planted on solid ground.

  


He fell again, and a kick to his ribs sent him onto his side. Rough gravelly sand bit into his cheek, and he heard two pirate laughs, like they were sharing an inside joke between the two owners.

  


Toph, please get something from the sand.

  


He pushed himself back to his feet, annoyed at the sand that was still stuck to his skin, but continued on walking to where they were going - the sooner he could rest... Sand made way for solid earth, and eventually the echoes of voices drew closer to his head. He could only guess they had entered some sort of cave or large open building.

  


The loss of the sunlight was a harsher blow than he was ever willing to admit. He only hoped he'd feel the rays  _ sooner  _ rather than later - if…  _ when  _ their great escape was carried out.

  


Yeah. He'd feel the sun again soon.

  


The light drew colder, and with it the exhaustion begun creeping in, starting with a draining and an aching in his muscles. Right, he had almost forgotten what it felt like. Zuko hunched his shoulders from where they had relaxed in the light.

  


The cold was too jarring.

  


Toph had stayed silent for the whole walk, and he only hoped she knew what she was doing.

  
  


_ “Benders deprived of their bending for too long go psychologically insane.” He refrained from rolling his eyes. He  _ **_knew_ ** _ this already, from the history lesson on the Southern Raiders and their methods of depriving Southern Waterbenders from all water. He just didn't care. “Please Nephew, you have to bend to get better, improve and heal.” _

  


_ “I'm never bending fire again. I  _ **_choose_ ** _ not to, and there's no other reason than that you can prove, old man,” he sneered, lying to Uncle and to himself protect what dignity he had left.  _

  


_ Pyrophobia, it was called. Apparently. _

  


_ Azula would laugh cruelly at how pathetic a firebender with a severe fear of fire was, and who would blame her? It really was pathetic that he would literally freeze at the sight of a candle, or have a freaking panic attack when flames were bent at all while he was in the same room. _

  


_ He was extremely close to snapping and banning all forms of firebending on his ship altogether. _

  


_ “I'm sure you'll feel a little better after some calming lemon balm tea.” _

  


_ “I don't want tea, Uncle. Don't you see I have bigger problems than needing to be calm? I need to find the Avatar.” _

  
  


The vision of Uncle’s disappointed face was enough to knock him into reality by shuddering from head to toe once again. 

  


Those first few months after his Agni Kai were the worst, he felt drained and his inner fire had never come so close to completely wilting… until now. His fire was no more than that of a candle, and even as he took a shaky breath, he could feel it flickering. Still, it was as though the internal smoke was waiting to revive it, but was being blocked from reaching the flame itself. Only watching curiously as it died slowly.

  


He shuddered through the raw need to firebend as it washed through his instincts, as he knew it would rekindle the flames. But he couldn't. Not here. Now now.

  


_ Cold _ .

  


Zuko wrinkled his nose as he was led further into the building slash maybe-a-cave. The smell of gas leaked though his senses. Ugh, maybe some sort of factory? 

  


Choosing to breathe through his mouth from then on, he stumbled another step as the blindfold was  _ finally  _ ripped from his face.

  


Light assaulted his eyes, blinding him even more successfully than the blindfold had. His mind provided a series of chants that circled between ‘ _ too bright _ ’ and ‘ _ Agni help us’ _ as his vision blurred and swayed like the ship. His headache was a familiar but not a welcome pain.

  


His vision cleared, and a large metal room met his patient sight. Pipes of metal travelled up and covered most of each wall, and the whole scene just screamed  _ factory _ of some sort. Zuko repressed a sense of pride of being able to tell, even while blindfolded. Now was  _ really  _ not the time - even for small wins.

  


He craved sunlight like he craved air. And he had just realised he had been holding his breath - he gulped it in, filling his lungs but the accidental slip up led him to accidentally breathing through his nose, and he was left coughing from the strong smell of gas.

  


Gas was never really used that often in Fire Nation factories… for the obvious reason of it being extremely flammable. Gas mixed with flames or electricity? Yeah, not a good idea. Plus it just smelled bad. Like...really bad - sure the smell was added in during its production to let you know when a leak occurred, but it smelled terrible. And then if the smell  _ wasn't _ added, then who knew when there was a leak, and one small unsuspecting bent spark or flame could end up exploding the entire factory in fire before anybody knew what was happening or wonder why.

  


So yeah. Not a good idea at all.

  


Toph was led into the room not long after him, and he felt a surge of both amusement and annoyance at the sight of Toph, a blind person, wearing a blindfold.

  


Trust the  _ pirates _ to have not listened to her, huh. Bitterness clouded his thoughts. His hands tightened into fists.

  


At some point the ropes that had once tied her hands had been cut, leaving her free to move, but the blindfold… it was just ridiculous to basically blinden the blind. That would be like asking a deaf person to plug their ears.

  


Not soon after that, the pirates had left them alone in a metal cell at the back, bars allowing him to see what was going on in the rest of the factory room. Was this even a factory? Well, it seemed more like a slave selling outpost for shady people.

  


Toph had taken off her own blindfold as soon as the cell door was closed on them.

  


“You know, firebenders may be worth more coin than any other kind of bender - even a dummy can see that making an ash maker do their chores or… other tasks would be a sweet change of pace.” The pirate looked up, brown eyes shining. 

  


This one was the fifth they'd seen, and the one that handed Bandana the rope back on the ship. She leaned against the bars, unknowing how easy it would be for Toph to just bend the metal and strangle her. And by judging how Toph had tensed against his side, that would be sooner rather than later. 

  


“Satisfying, I'd say,” she said, then made a face and leaned over to spit on the ground next to her. “Damn migie-flies.”

  


There was a loud clank of metal as Bandana and the Water Tribe -  _ Ishka -  _ entered the large factory room.

  


“Non-benders are worth less, and the blind thing will be a problem, but I'm sure there'll be uses for you.”

  


Anger shot through him, and he was certain that if it weren't for their damned bracelets he would have steamed. Hopefully enough to smother her.

  


“Kiya, get your ass over here. We need you t’write something,” Bandana called.

  


Kiya. Ishka. Zuko noted their names, and he was going to remember them. Make them pay for their comments. Kiya, Ishka, Bandana, Shaven, Captain Eyepatch. Sure, he only knew two names for sure, but it was good to keep tabs on each one so he'd know how much of them there were when he was going to make them suffer.

  


Kiya sighed and pushed away from the edge of their  cage ...  _ cell -  _ They weren't animals - they were in a cell.

  


Cold.

  


The metal was cold.

  


He waited until the pirates were fully distracted with a leaf of parchment before he asked, “Did you get a good look of the pace on your way in?”

  


A smirk crossed Toph’s face. “What do you take me for?”

  


A yes then.

  


“Everything's metal,” Toph said with a giddy edge to her voice that wasn't there on the ship. “I can  _ feel  _ it. That's almost too easy for us. Three rooms, a corridor, and then we're outside. Home free, Sparks.”

  


They don't waste time, not waiting for the group in front of their cell to finish their letter (or whatever Kiya seemed to be spelling out), and Zuko wished not for the first time that he could firebend, as Toph stood and slipped into a solid stance he had grown so accustomed to.

  


The bars bent to the sides of the cell with a loud, ear-piercing creak, and the pirates looked up, all in different states of surprise.

  


They jumped free of the bars, and toph bent metal around Eyepatch and Shaven, rendering them useless than anything other than scream at Kiya and Ishka to “ _ get them!” _

  


Zuko would have rolled his eyes at the stereotypical bad-guy line if he wasn't suddenly attacked with an onslaught of fists as Kiya moved in. She may have been short, but she was agile and fast. Attacking with a speed that Zuko’s fevered mind could not keep up with.

  


His hands ached for dao swords.

  


Water swept his feet from under him, and Zuko looked up in shock, only seeing Ishka with gloves of water, and Toph encased in ice - save for her head.

  


Zuko  _ knew  _ it. Ishka  _ was a waterbender. _ Who bent ice as well.

  


...Ice.

  


Toph couldn't see.

  


Eyepatch and Shaven were glaring at Bandana who had run off to find a bat - only arriving now that Zuko was floored, and Toph was contained.

  


“I told you we should have chi blocked her!” Eyepatch yelled at him, unknowing of how ridiculous he looked wrapped in bent metal and secured to the floor. “You said she wasn't a bender.”

  


Bandana growled defensively. “That is what she told us.”

  


“And you believed her?”

  


Then it happened again, and Zuko only noticed it because he was paying attention to Toph, and noticed her confident smile that was there and gone in a split second. He glanced down to her feet, still encased in ice. What was she…

  


There.

  


Her foot was still firmly on the metal floor despite the ice around it.

  


Metal bent unsurely from the floor, and became more confident after that first breath - encasing Kiya as she let out a scream of indignation as she was pinned from her feet up to her shoulders. Unable to move.

  


Zuko smirked as he freely stood once more on shaky feet, ignoring the cold.

  


Ice smashed around them, and Zuko was suddenly dragged along at a much faster pace than he would have liked for his weakened body.

  


The door to the first room opened in the high pitched screech of metal being crushed, and a thud as it was thrown along.

  


The second room passed in a blur of metal, pipes and more gas, and his mind supplied the words of  _ a giant gas chambre. _ Angry footsteps caught on behind them as Toph resealed the door.

  


Then, Zuko’s stomach dropped as he came to a sudden halt. 

  


The key… the key to these chi blocking bracelets.

  


“Toph… Agni, Toph we have to go back.” He swallowed harshly as Toph stopped suddenly beside him. “The key..”

  


Toph seemed confused for a second before she caught on. She laughed, and Zuko furrowed his eyebrow. “Zuko. We don't  _ need  _ a key when we have me.”

  


Silence.

  


“The greatest earthbender of all time. Come on, you know this.” She reached forwards. “Here, show me those doodads you have on.”

  


Reluctantly, he raised his hands in front of them, and Toph took on an easy stance, forehead creasing in concentration. The metal shifted minutely, and Zuko thought that they were finally going to give way, when Toph stopped her hands forcefully, letting out a sharp breath and taking in another. Sweat glistened on her forehead through the darkened light of the building.

  


She caught her breath for a moment more, stumbling to stay upright as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

  


Finally she looked up at him with an emotion similar to pity on her face. “H- how can you stand to have those on for so long?”

  


Zuko shook his head, but knew that Toph couldn't feel it. Chi drained and all.

  


It was pointless.

  


“I have to go back, Toph.” Her breath hitched as he said it. “There’s a hill across the way with a tree on it. I can meet up with you there. Yeah?”

  


He turned away, back towards the metal door with the pounding fists and yelling - ignoring the way he didn't fully believe himself... Only two pirates left, a bat and water as their weapons. 

  


Simple as a firecake bake.

  


A rough hand on his arm forced him to look back. Toph stood there, lip worried between her teeth. 

  


“What?”

  


“You-” she licked her lips, releasing them from her teeth. Probably a habit from years of being told not to bite her lips because they would be left ‘ _ looking torn, like a peasant’s _ ’. Agni knew Azula told him that line for years. “You're not telling the truth… but you're not lying.”

  


A half-lie. He knew he wasn’t sure…

  


“I'll try, okay.. all I have to do is get the cutter and I will be out again.” He didn't mention the waterbender, the ice. He knew it was a weakness, and so did Toph… she knew more than him.

  


Toph’s eyes met his for a second, and Zuko could almost swear that she could see him, but she had tears in her eyes.

  


“Zuko, no! We- We'll find another way. There has to be another way.” She grabbed his arm tighter. “We can find a saw. A really sharp saw.”  _ Don’t go in with the waterbender. Not as weak as your flame is. _

  


It was unsaid, but not unheard.

  


He smiled reassuringly, knowing that it would go wasted on her. An idea formed in his mind. “Here.” He took off his shell bracelet, running a tender touch over the cracked shell for Lu Ten, before he pressed it into Toph’s palm. “I never got to make you one. Have this one until I can - I’ll be back for it.”

  


Tears finally began to track down her cheeks, and he wasn't surprised to find his own eyes welling up as well. Toph crying was just so… contagious. 

  


“Zuko, you better get back. You better, or I will drag you out myself.” 

  


Zuko coughed, half from the gas, half from a tear catching in his throat. “I’ll try,” he repeated, mind stuck on the strength of the waterbender and how weak he was from his prolonged chi block.

  


“No, I'm serious. If I feel any funny business, I'll be down here quicker than your little sparks can fly.”

  


Sparks.

  


He laughed as she shakily slipped on the fragile bracelet. Lu Ten's bracelet. “Of course.”

  


They part ways, not happily - Toph running towards the sunlight, Zuko headed back deeper into the factory. He  _ had _ to get the cutter.

  


The door bent back open, and he took his chance to dive between the two pirates, dodging fists and shards of ice until he reached the table beside the metal cell they were trapped in earlier.

  


Key. Key. Key.

  


He could have sworn… there!

  


He grabbed for the cutter, and dodged out of the way of another wash of water from the Water Tribe’s waterskin. Instantly, he began sawing at the collar, only satisfied once it thunked to the metal floor.

  


His inner flame flickered, like sparks, and his chi almost sang in relief at the one blocker being gone.

  


He could finally  _ breathe _ again.

  


Before Zuko could blink, cold crawled up his spine.

  


Agni… what now.

  


Water soaked his trousers as it crawled up his shins, and he met Ishka’s eyes, only to see hunger. Hunger for money, or revenge against a firebender, he didn't know. He didn't  _ want  _ to know which one.

  


Before he could blink, the water reached his waist in a surge, and froze.

  


“Not so waterproof now, are we?” She blinked, then looked around. “Geiff, where the hell are you?”

  


Bandana (Geiff) ducked out from around the door. “Just… you know… the metalbender,” he finished weakly.

  


Ishka was distracted long enough for Zuko to make the last cut on his right hand’s bracelet, allowing his chi inside to slowly build and sing.

  


It felt so good, scarily so. How bad had his chi really gotten?

  


His wrist was red raw from where the metal had rubbed against him, draining his chi into the cool band. 

  


His nose protested against the smell of gas, his ability to fully breathe felt like a relief at the time but…

  


He coughed, drawing back the attention of the waterbender.

  


She scowled at him, eyes colder than the metal, colder than the ice that was crawling up his spine.

  


He was going to have to give in.

  


Toph had to feel this. Right?

  


Uncle's words of wisdom flashed on his inward eye, and made him smirk against the water crawling up his neck. He took one last look at Ishka’s murderous expression as he realised what he had known before. Before all of this grand escape - gas was flammable.

  


_ Never give up without a fight. _

  


“Hey, watch this.”

  


He brought up a hand, shaking it free of water, trying not to ache at the absence of comfort from a small shell bracelet...

  


And clicked.


End file.
